Fund set up to assist David City woman

DAVID CITY -- There are times when the deck seems stacked against you.

It’s that way for Jaimee Lloyd and her son, Wynd Dischinger.

They need to travel to San Diego to wrap up the affairs of Lloyd’s mother, Eunice Briggs, 81, who died April 27 from ovarian cancer.

On top of that, Lloyd, 47, is out of work, fighting hepatitis C and is the only who can care for her son, who is 16.

Her father, James Lloyd, passed away in 1979, and there are no other relatives around to take care of Briggs’ final arrangements, including cremation.

“Most of my relatives are passed away, most of them before I was born,” said Lloyd, who was an only child.

She said she and Wynd visited her mother last winter to help her through cataract surgery, and the two returned to Nebraska in January, where Lloyd has lived for 20 years.

“She was living on her own and doing her own thing,” Lloyd said, adding that her mother lived in a mobile home park for retirees.

Lloyd hadn’t contacted her mother for several months, and was only notified of her mother’s death by a registered letter last week, she said.

Now she and Wynd need to travel to California, take care of her mother’s property and cremation.

“I’m going to need (Wynd’s) muscle to get through everything in her trailer,” Lloyd said.

Because of her health issues and her limited income, Lloyd has received some assistance from Blue Valley Community Action. The agency has set up a fund at US Bank to get Lloyd a debit card to help her cover her expenses.

Blue Valley’s emergency funds typically are used to help people with immediate needs such as rent, a late utility bill or food.

The agency doesn’t have the $2,000 that Lloyd would need, even if the two stayed in their car or camped along the way, said BVCA Coordinator Angie Peirce.

“Blue Valley is not in a position to assist with this on our own,” Peirce said.

Many people could afford to make an emergency trip to California, either with cash or by using a credit card, but Lloyd doesn’t have the resources to go, and the family has no one else available to take care of the task, Peirce said.

“She has already contacted as many resources as she has available,” Peirce said. “Someone who is struggling to make ends meet, and to have something like this come up.”

Peirce said that if enough people send in even a small contribution such as $5, Lloyd could take care of her mother’s affairs.

Contributions can be sent to: Jaimee Lloyd Fund, c/o US Bank, 490 E St., David City, NE 68632.

For more information, contact Angie Peirce, BVCA coordinator for Butler, Seward and Polk counties, at (402) 367-4347.